Bush likely to act on 9/11 probe

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US President George Bush seems likely to adopt at least some of the reforms recommended by the independent commission investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Signs from the White House indicate that Mr Bush is responding to pressure from Congress and the Democratic challenger, John Kerry.

It suggests that after an initial non-committal response, the President and his staff have decided to act as soon as possible on some of the less complicated reforms in order to appear responsive to commission - and public - demands.

A White House official said the President could act within days on some of the report's recommendations. He was not specific.

Senator Kerry has turned up the heat on Mr Bush, embracing the recommendations immediately after they were announced on Thursday and pledging to implement them on his first day in office if elected.

"There are imperatives that we must move on rapidly," he said on Thursday.

By contrast, Mr Bush had praised the proposed reforms as "serious" but promised only to study them carefully.

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That stance began to shift on Friday when White House officials announced the President had asked his chief of staff, Andrew Card, to lead a cabinet-level group to determine how many of the recommendations could be implemented by presidential order, without waiting for legislation from Congress.

But Senator Kerry overtook the President again at the weekend, with his advisers announcing on Sunday that they had already completed their own analysis and determined that 25 of the 41 recommendations did not require congressional action.

While many of the recommendations can be implemented simply by executive order, the most sweeping changes, including the creation of a director of national intelligence, would require legislation.

On those matters, Congress needed to move quickly, commission members said on Sunday. "Every day that passes is an increased risk if we do not make changes," commission deputy chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Congress adjourned on Friday for a six-week summer holiday. Asked what sort of message that sent, Mr Hamilton responded: "Not a very good one . . . We all agree on the urgency of this . . . We all agree that the status quo is unacceptable."

White House officials said last week that the President, who is spending the week of the Democratic convention at his Texas ranch, would use at least some of his time away from Washington to study the commission's report.